Chicken Chaap is a Mughal inspired recipe where the marinated chicken will be slowly cooked in thick oily gravy. The rich flavor of the gravy and the soft juicy moist chicken makes this dish not only unique but very delicious too. Chicken Chaap is an ultimate recipe for festive season which can be served with Biriyani/Pulao/Naan/White Rice.
After my engagement, me & my husband had the Chicken Chaap at Arsalan,Kolkata (http://www.arsalanrestaurant.in/). I wanted to make it at home.
Marination is the main step in Chicken Chaap, you can also marinate overnight. The Cashew Paste, Poppy seed Paste, Char Magaz Paste are the main ingredients of the thick gravy. You can see below how I have marinated the chicken. Make few slits on the chicken so that the marination masala could get into it. Don’t make deep cut so that the chicken gets separated into more pieces.
You will find I have used Green Papaya Paste for the marination.It is a must use item, try not to skip it. Green Papaya Paste is one of the secret ingredient for making Chicken Chaap.
I have used vegetable oil & Ghee in 50/50 ratio but you can use only Ghee to make the Chicken Chaap more tasty. The below picture has been taken right after I had put the chicken into the skillet.
I have taken the following photograph after 10-15 mins of cooking. You need to slow cook the chicken until that the gravy starts extracting oil.
Here is the final photograph of the Chicken Chaap after it was served.
We often crave for delicious food and rush to restaurants in order to fulfill our appetite. However Chicken Chaap is one of many delicious recipe which can be easily made at home, even for a group of people. I hope the below photograph would make you hungry and you will try this recipe at home rather than in a restaurant 🙂
Let me know your feedback on my recipe of Chicken Chaap and hope you will enjoy this Chicken Chaap recipe very much.
- 500 gm chicken (2 leg pieces)
- 2 Tablespoons Onion Paste
- 2 Tablespoons Garlic Paste
- 1-2 Tablespoon Green Chili Paste
- 1½ Tablespoon Poppy seed Paste
- 1 Tablespoon Cashew Paste (Kaju Badam)
- 1 Tablespoon Dried Melon Seed Paste (Char Magaz)
- 1 Tablespoon Garam Masala Powder (Cinnamon, Cardamom, Cloves )
- 3-4 Tablespoons Green Papaya Paste
- 1 Teaspoon Nutmeg & Mess Powder (Joyetree and Jaifal)
- 2 Tablespoons Card (Dahi or Yogurt)
- 1 Tablespoon Ginger Paste
- Salt and Sugar as per Taste
- ¼ Cup Ghee
- ¼ Cup Vegetable Oil
- 2 Table spoon Fried Onion Paste (see notes)
- 1 Tablespoon Ginger Paste
- 1 Tablespoon Garlic Paste
- ½ Tablespoon Green Chili Paste
- ¼ Teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- ½ Teaspoon Red Chili Powder
- Salt & Sugar as per Taste
- ¼ Teaspoon Garam Masala Powder (Cinnamon, Cardamom, Cloves)
- ¼ Teaspoon Nutmeg & Mess Powder (Joyetree,Jaifal)
- 1 Teaspoon Kewra Water
- ¼ Teaspoon Rose Water
- 2-3 Drops Mitha Attar
- At first, clean the Chicken and then make some Slits (a long narrow cut) on it.
- Then marinate the chicken with all the Marinated items listed above for at least 3-4 hours in refrigerator.
- Heat a cooking pan in medium flame and put Ghee, Vegetable Oil. Add fried onion Paste (see notes), Ginger & Garlic Paste, stir them well for 5 mins.
- Then put some salt, sugar, red chili powder, turmeric powder and mix them well.
- Now add the marinated chicken along with the extra marinated mixture into the pan and cook for 5 mins.
- Reduce the flame to low-medium and let the chicken be slow cooked for another 30 minutes. Stir occasionally so that the bottom part doesn't get burned.
- Once the chicken is cooked, add ¼ Teaspoon Garam Masala powder,1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg & Mess powder,1 Teaspoon Kewra Water,1/4 Teaspoon Rose Water, and at last 2-3 drops of Mitha Attar.
- Now your yummy and spicy “Chicken Chaap” is ready, serve it with Biriyani/Pulao/Naan or you can also serve it with plain white rice.
This recipe would require more oil/ghee, you can drain excess oil at the end.
Use only ghee to make this more tasty.
Maitreyi jana says
Super excellent and palatable ! keep it up.
funloveandcooking@gmail.com says
Thank you so much !
Amit K says
Excellent presentation & recipe. Looking forward to make this at home soon.
funloveandcooking@gmail.com says
Thanks Amit, looking forward for your feedback on the recipe once you have made the Chicken Chaap at home.